That's 4 lives ruined

I am referring to the horrendous event in the news recently of 2 children basically torturing another 2, nearly killing one of them. I emphasis 'children' because they were, at the time, 10 and 11! Obviously there has been a wave of shocked responses to this. I read one columnist today who called them 'savages'. However, when I read stories like this, whilst the things they did were very repulsive, I am not repulsed by the children themselves. In fact, cases like this make me feel deeply sad for the perpetrators. These are not adults, or indeed children who knew right from wrong, they were children who had grown up in an environment in which they had never learnt that things like this are not acceptable. I won't go into the details, but one thing that I will mention, something that bothers me a lot, is that they were allowed to watch violent films (Chucky was the example given). Now, if you or I were to watch films like this, we would know (I hope) that this is pure fiction and should never be carried out in real life, to real people. However, these children were 10 and 11 and their upbringing means they have never learnt this. A child of that age, especially when brought up in that kind of environment, has no capacity for empathy, in particular in reference to being able to understand that violence has consequences. They are probably incapable of knowing that the victim of their violence feels pain and fear, and that they are really feeling these things, rather than simply being characters in a film or video game.
My point, therefore, is that the actions of the boys' parents has, in effect, ruined 4 young childrens' lives; the 2 victims who will obviously be severely traumatised, but also the 2 perpetrators who will forever be branded as 'monsters' and 'savages'.
My prayers for the victims and their family and also for the state of our society; may God use this atrocious event as a catalyst for change in our hearts, and in society as a whole.
You may not agree with Christianity, but you have to agree that its values are worth teaching to the generations to come. Love, patience, empathy...without these all future children will be as 'monstrous' as those above.